This article was originally published in German. Read the original version in German here:
"Jetzt sind es fast zu viele" Schon Mitte Januar zurück: Der Storch-Boom in der Westpfalz
Noch vor 15 Jahren waren Störche in der Westpfalz eine kleine Sensation. Heute? Alltag. Manche fliegen gar nicht mehr weg. Wie aus der Region ein Storchen-Mekka wurde.
Mid-January 2026: While snow still covered parts of Germany, the first storks were already back in the Kaiserslautern Area in the West Palatinate. Perched on power poles and nesting platforms, they had moved into their nests—some had even spent the cold months right here. What would have been a small sensation 15 years ago is now routine in the region: white storks have made the West Palatinate their home.
“It used to be a sensation if you saw a stork.
"At first it felt totally new—now you’ve really gotten used to it," says Hans Drumm, chairman of the Stork Friends of the Glan Valley. The association, founded in 2005, has played a major role in how the stork population has developed over the past two decades. "For visitors it’s a highlight—for us it’s normal." A luxury problem the region is still happy to have.
Michael Schröder of NABU Weilerbach, a nature conservation association, agrees: "In 2011 it was a sensation if you saw a stork." Today, he says, the Kaiserslautern Area has become a hotspot for white storks.
Stork trailblazing in the Glan Valley — how it all began
Before the Stork Friends of the Glan Valley were founded in 2005, "there were basically no storks here," Drumm recalls. The strategy was simple: set up decoy aviaries, install nesting platforms, and hope. “Storks look for their own kind,” Drumm explains. Where there are already storks, more are likely to settle. The birds readily accepted the nesting sites—one pair has been together for ten years and returns to Theisbergstegen, Drumm says.
Stork villages in the West Palatinate
The boom is especially striking in certain towns: Katzweiler in the Kaiserslautern district, for instance, has turned into a real "stork village" within just a few years, Schröder says.
Theisbergstegen in the Kusel district is known as a "stork village" well beyond the West Palatinate. "Now it’s almost too many," says Hans Drumm of the Stork Friends of the Glan Valley.
And Lohnsfeld in the Donnersberg district also sees plenty of stork pairs starting in March. Mayor Daniel Korn says that at peak times, 20 to 40 storks make their home here. His term for it: "stork armadas."
Like other towns in the West Palatinate, Lohnsfeld has seen a real stork boom in recent years. Especially noticeable this year: the first birds arrived “unusually early,” already by mid-January, the mayor reports.
No urge to head south: some storks now winter in the West Palatinate
Some storks now spend the winter in the West Palatinate. "In recent years a few have stayed here," Drumm says. Two or three birds have skipped the trip south entirely. And overall, storks also tend to return earlier from their winter quarters in the south, Schröder says—an observation that can be backed up with data.
"It could be that at some point the storks won’t fly away at all." — Hans Drumm, Stork Friends of the Glan Valley
Climate change the reason? Why the storks are arriving earlier
"The long-term data shows a trend," Schröder explains: the birds’ arrival is shifting earlier. Why? The reasons are complex, but experts agree on one key factor—winters have become milder on average. Climate change is making itself felt, even in the skies over the West Palatinate.
Don’t mix them up: cranes passing through
The storks aren’t the only ones: experts have noticed that cranes, too, are leaving their southern winter quarters earlier. But while white storks have truly settled in the West Palatinate, cranes are just passing through. “Most of the time they fly right over us,” Schröder says. Sometimes they stop for a few hours—to rest up before moving on.
One spot in particular has built a name for itself: the Kranichwoog near Hütschenhausen in the Kaiserslautern district. Schröder calls the birdwatching area “the cranes’ motel.” “Sometimes they spend the night there,” he says.
Storks could become year-round residents
In the coming weeks, the skies over the West Palatinate will get even busier: by early March, when breeding season begins, most storks should have arrived. “If there’s a late cold snap, it could delay things,” says Drumm.
He’s already thinking ahead: “It could be that at some point the storks won’t fly away at all.” If they find enough food, if winters stay mild—why make the journey south? The West Palatinate would lose its migratory birds, but gain permanent guests.
Maybe the region will soon be full of storks year-round. What was once a sensation could become perfectly normal everyday life.